Men's Tennis Sees Success at National Tennis Center Invitational as Lin Wins B Singles Draw

Friday, September 23

Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

All Day

Columbia

NTC Invitational

Men's Tennis Sees Success at National Tennis Center Invitational as Lin Wins B Singles Draw

9/27/2011 11:12:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Columbia University Athletics

NEW YORK – The Columbia men's tennis team saw outstanding success at the 2011 USTA Billie Jean King NTC Men's College Invitational which took place in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. this past weekend. The Lions saw several individuals advanced to the finals, as first-year Winston Lin won the B Singles Draw.

Senior Haig Schneiderman was Columbia's lone representative in the A Singles Draw. He opened the tournament as the No.3 seed, but fell in the first round to Daniel Hoffman of Yale, 6-1, 6-4. In the back draw, Schneiderman notched a win over Rashad Shelton of Army, 6-0, 6-0, before losing to the draw's No.1 see, Vasko Mladenov of St. John's, 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-6.

The B singles draw saw three Lions in play, including two in the finals, and the eventual champion. First-year Winston Lin, who was the No.3 seed in the bracket, won the B singles draw, against teammate and classmate Ashok Narayana. Narayana won his first round match against Zack McCourt of Princeton, 4-6, 7-5, 11-9, and advanced to take on the top seed, Brandon Burke of Brown. Narayana beat him in two sets, 6-2, 7-6(2), to advance to the semifinals. There, he took on Penn's Phil Law, and won, 3-6, 7-5, 10-7. Lin had an easier path to the finals, as he never dropped a set. In the first round, he beat Nikola Kocovic from Penn 7-6(0), 6-2, and advanced to be Ibrahim Shams from Fairleigh Dickinson, 6-0, 6-2. In the semifinals, Lin faced off against the No.2 see, Sam Fife of Brown, beating him 7-6(5), 6-2. In the finals, the two Lions faced off, with Lin taking the win 6-4, 7-5.

Junior Nathaniel Gery was also in the B singles draw. He suffered a first round loss to Law, 6-4, 6-3, and advanced to the back draw. There, Gery fell to St. John's Mike Lampa, 4-6, 3-6, 10-3.

In the C singles draw, Columbia saw another strong performance from three separate athletes, all three of whom were seeded. Junior John Yetimoglu was the No.2 seed, while first-year Bert Vancura was the No.3 seed, and sophomore Tizian Bucher was seeded No.4. Bucher notched a first round win over Tom Deighton of Brown, 6-4, 7-5, before falling to Dan Richardson of Princeton, 6-4, 6-4. Vancura advanced to the semifinals of the draw. In his first round, he beat Dan Sauter of Fairfield, 7-6(5), 6-4, and then beat Tim Klanke of Brown, 5-7, 6-4, 5-1, ret. In the semifinals, Vancura was paired off against Cameron Ghorbani of Dartmouth, who won the match 5-7, 6-0, 10-7, and would eventually win the draw.

Yetimoglu was the most successful Lion in the C draw, as he advanced to the finals of the bracket. In the first round, he beat Ulrik Thomsen, 6-1, 1-6, 7-2, ret., advancing to take on St. John's player Matty Najfeld. He beat him in a three set battle, 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-6. In the semifinals, Yetimoglu took on Richardson from Princeton, beating him 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the finals. There, he fell to Ghorbani, 6-4. 6-2, for a second place finish.

Two Columbia men's tennis athletes took part in the D singles draw. Senior co-captain Rajeev Deb-Sen won his first round match against Mark Milbrandt from Penn, 4-6, 6-4, 10-6, before falling to Brown's Will Spector, 6-0, 7-5. And first-year Max Schnur did well, advancing to the semifinals of the bracket. In the round of 16, he notched a win over the No.3 seed, Chris Kipouras of Dartmouth, 0-6, 7-5, 10-8, and advanced to beat Yale's Zach Krumholz, 1-6, 6-1, 10-7. Schnur eventually fell to the No.2 seed, Will Reznek of Marist, 6-4, 4-6, 10-8.

Columbia had another athlete advance to the finals of his bracket, as first-year Theordore Marin did so in the F singles bracket. He notched a win over Sebastian Barbero of St. Peter's College, 2-6, 6-2, 10-5, before taking out the No.3 seed, Joe Michalisin of Fairfield, 6-3, 6-3. Marin advanced to the finals with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Victor Martinez from NJIT, before falling to Fairleigh Dickinson's Yuri Grichenko in the finals, 6-4, 6-2.

In doubles, Columbia had Gery and Yetimoglu representing the Lions in the A Doubles Draw. The duo notched an 8-2 win over a pair from Fairleigh Dickinson, before falling to the No.2 seed from Penn, 8-5. In the B doubles draw, Lin and Schnur teamed up to advance to the semifinals. Round one saw the duo upset the No.4 seed from Marist, 8-6, before advancing with an 8-4 win over a Fairleigh Dickinson duo. In the semifinals, the young pair fell to the No.2 seeds from Brown and eventual bracket winners, 8-4. In C doubles, Narayana and Vancura had a big win, as the Lions upset the No.2 seeds from Boston College, 8-4, before falling to a Brown pair, 8-3 in the quarterfinals. And in the D draw, Bucher and Deb-Sen suffered a first round loss to a duo from Yale, 8-6.

Up next for the Lions Is the All-American, which will take place in Tulsa Oklahoma, Thursday, October 6 to Sunday, October 9.